Cooler
is a character and main villain in the fifth and sixth movies of the anime Dragon Ball Z. He is the older brother of Frieza, and the oldest son of King Cold. Like his brother, he can push his body through transformations to increase his power. Although only two forms are seen (the last two), it is stated in the fifth film that Cooler possesses the same number of forms Frieza does, as well as a fifth and more powerful form. Like his brother, Cooler also has a biomechanical final form. Cooler was designed by Akira Toriyama, the original manga author, for Toei's theatrical production (and later adapted as needed for future appearances). Toriyama's designs can be seen in Dragon Ball Daizenshuu #6. Name pun Like his brother and father, Cooler's name is a pun on all things relating to the cold. As both Cooler's and Frieza's names end in a short "a" vowel (rather than the long "ā''" which usually signifies "er" in kana spellings on English words), Frieza's name is typically spelled with an "a" at the end (as opposed to "Freezer"). Logic would follow that the character's name should in turn be spelled in a similar fashion (as opposed to "Cooler"). Note that FUNimation Entertainment, the company responsible for ''Dragon Ball's production and distribution in North America and Australia, chooses to spell the name as Cooler (and Freeza as Frieza). Most fans choose the spellings Cooler and Frieza as opposed to the other spellings. Species The name of Cooler's species is never revealed in the anime, manga, or movies. Due to their ability to change forms, they are often referred to by fans as "Changelings". However, it should also be noted that there is never any hint given as to whether King Cold was able to transform. If not, then his shown form would be his "true" form (being his only one) which would suggest the transformations are unique to his sons. (The only person who might be able to clear all of this up would be author Akira Toriyama himself). Cooler's Armored Squadron , Salza, Dore.]] Not unlike the mercenary Ginyu Force (right down to the vapid posing) called upon by Frieza on Planet Namek, Cooler's Armored Squadron compose the elder brother's own special fighting team. These three warriors serve as Cooler's subordinates throughout the course of the fifth film. Their dress is the customary garb of soldiers in Frieza's military; an extended length of armor juts from their left shoulder, while the uniforms themselves are in Cooler's primary colors of purple and white, they are shown to have a habit of blocking or reflecting Ki Blasts rather than dodging them, this habit causes Dore to be killed when he tried to block a blast more powerful than he could handle. Unlike the Ginyu Force, they appear to be more serious, with their posing being more limited (as Cooler might not be as tolerant of it as his brother Frieza) and less awkward than the Ginyu Force's Special Fighting Poses. Their team is also stronger than the Ginyu Force, in their greater willingness to work together, more serious attitude, and greater power levels than the Ginyu Force. This is shown when they almost effortlessly gain an advantage fighting Goku when they all fought him at once. This makes them more dangerous than the Ginyu Force, despite their lesser numbers. (The Ginyu Force's five to the Armored Squadron's three.) Their lesser numbers may be due to Cooler's more hands-on approach to galactic conquest, in contrast to Frieza, who generally preferred to allow his men to carry out his will. Akin to all Dragon Ball characters, the henchmen's names are derived from puns - in this case, condiments and salad dressings. Nevertheless, all three were killed by Piccolo, who defeated all of them without effort. * Thousar (サウザー Sauzaa; pun on Thousand Island dressing, "Sauzando Airando"): Blue skinned "pretty-boy" alien with blonde hair; Cooler's right-hand man. He is able to slice through objects using a blade of ki formed in his right hand and very similar to Zarbon in appearance. Called "Salza" in the English Dub. (Pun on Salsa). * Naise (ネイズ Neizu; pun on "mayonnaise"): Tall, brown reptilian creature who can retract the whole of his head into his body. He can fire an electrical attack that can immobilize his opponents.In the english dub his name is spelled N-E-I-Z. * Dore (ドーレ Dōre; derived from saradore (salad dressing): Long-haired and vaguely reminiscent of The Hulk, never seen without his helmet.In the english dub his name has two o's. It is also worth noting that Akira Toriyama also provided the character designs for these characters, as seen in the sixth Dragon Ball Daizenshuu. Interestingly, the Armored Squadron's insignia resembles Cooler's head in his fifth form. While Cooler does not have any specifically-named henchmen in DBZ Movie 6 (other than Meta Cooler), it could be noted that the gete in Big Gete Star comes from getemono, which roughly means "cobbled together". Storyline DBZ Movie 5: Cooler's Revenge While Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, the home planet of the Saiyans, a newly-born Kakarot (Goku) was being sent to subjugate Earth. Seeing that one Saiyan baby had escaped the explosion, Cooler's henchmen made plans to shoot the capsule down. Cooler belayed that order, lamenting that his brother was still far too soft to allow a child's escape and that Frieza's conceit would delay the annihilation of the Saiyan race and jeopardize his family's absolute control over the galaxy. Twenty-five years later, Cooler got word that his brother had been killed... by a Saiyan. He doubted that any Saiyan would have the power to defeat Frieza, and went to Earth to investigate. Upon arriving, he had his henchmen found a Saiyan, who turned out to be Goku. He succeeds in mortally wounding him in a shot intended for Gohan, but loses sight of his quarry after he is washed down a waterfall. Not content to blow up the planet - being too proud and eager to smite the one who injured his family name - Cooler goes to some lengths to have him tracked down. With all three of his henchmen defeated by Piccolo, He finally enters the battle himself and easily beats Piccolo before facing Goku. Goku, revived by consuming a Senzu (thus powering him up like always) and Cooler are a fairly even match (too much even for Cooler's tastes), so he honors Goku by showing him his ultimate transformation. He increases dramatically in size, speed, and strength; four horns grow to form a crown atop his head as spikes form on his forearms, and he now sports a facemask of sorts, hiding all facial features except his eyes, which are now red and pupils. Cooler is able to easily overpower Goku in this form, until at length he grows tired of the fight and feels Frieza had further shamed his family by dying at Goku's hand. As he makes plans to destroy the planet, Goku's rage transcends, transforming him into a Super Saiyan. Off-guard and arrogant, Cooler is batted around easily, and then he realizes how Frieza lost to Goku. He gathers enough energy to form a large orange sun-like attack (the same attack Frieza used to destroy Planet Vegeta and to try and kill Future Trunks) that he hopes will not only be enough to obliterate his opponent, but the Earth along with him. But with a Kamehameha, Goku is able to offset his attack and send Cooler hurling into the Sun. It was then that Cooler realized that Goku was the Saiyan he had allowed to escape so many years ago, and that in scolding his brother and not lifting a finger he had been far too soft himself. He, however, survives this assault, though only a mechanical head remains of him, attached to the Big Gete Star, where he produces thousands and thousands of Mechanical clones of himself, each more deadly than even a Super Saiyan. DBZ Movie 6: Return of Cooler Cooler was thought to be dead, but a part of his head survived. He set a course for New Namek, intent on draining the planet and using the Namekians there as fuel. Dende called to Earth's warriors for help; Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo, as well as Krillin, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Yajirobe, traveled there to assist. Upon arriving, they find many robot guards, as well as the revived Meta-Cooler, now in a wholly metallic and enhanced body. Stronger than ever, he is able to easily repel Goku even as a Super Saiyan, and had it not been for the unlikely appearance of Vegeta, Goku might have been killed. Even the two Super Saiyans ran into difficulty handling Meta-Cooler; the nano-machines that made up his body would instantly detect and repair any defect, and make it so that defect would no longer hinder the "new-and-improved" version. Only by working together in a joint attack would Meta-Cooler finally be destroyed. , made by what little remains of the organic Cooler.]] However, the Big Gete Star housed not one Cooler, but hundreds, if not thousands. Goku and Vegeta had no chance of beating them all, and are absorbed by the Star itself, where they find the brains behind it all, the actual Cooler - an obscene and grinning head split with one remaining eye, strung up by wires and sheets of metal. All Meta-Coolers seen previously were under remote control, and the machine itself formed Cooler's true body. He plots to drain Goku and Vegeta of all their energy for his own purposes, saying "Oh, the exquiste agony!" and laughing happily. But their power is too much and begins to overload the capacity of his systems. The Saiyans then flood the Big Gete Star with energy, causing it to crumble and his remote-controlled dolls to self-destruct, while Cooler starts to lose his hold on the planet. Sickened by such "scum" yet again foiling his plans, Cooler fashions a final body from what's left of his organic self, intending to throttle Goku in wires. Even to this end Cooler believes victory is inevitable, and his arrogance costs him his life as Vegeta shears off one of his mech arms, giving Goku time to destroy what's left of his body. With the "brain" gone, the Big Gete Star disintegrates over New Namek, with Vegeta crushing the original chip in his hand, ensuring that Cooler will never come back again. Powers and abilities Cooler possesses many of the same techniques as his brother, though often noticeably stronger. Very little of his individual techniques differ from that of Frieza. It is notable that he possesses an extra transformation. Although Frieza used his transformations to suppress his power, Cooler utilizes a way to actually enhance his power through transformation, developing a powerful, extra form. However, this form was still no match for the power of a Super Saiyan. Also, Cooler can power up up his "Super Nova" attack faster than Frieza can thus making him much more dangerous. Additional appearances Dragon Ball GT Cooler later makes cameo appearance in Dragon Ball GT, when all villains escape from Hell. He and with the rest of the villains are sent back to Hell shortly after. Video games Cooler makes several video game appearances. A phantom Cooler, along with what appears to be a resurrected Frieza, Turles, and Lord Slug, attack Goku and his friends in the Famicom game (and later Playdia re-make) ''Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku (Side Story: The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans)'' (an OVA was also released on VHS in August 1993), but these are merely false ghost-warriors meant to harass the heroes. (Interestingly this is the only time in anime that Cooler and Frieza are seen together as allies.) Cooler makes an appearance as a Boss (video games)|boss character in Dragon Ball Z III: Ressen Jinzō Ningen (Famicom) and DBZ: The Legacy of Goku II, in Legacy of Goku, he is the most powerful enemy in the game (even more so then Cell) as well as being the only one with over 10,000 health points. He is also a playable character in several versus fighting game|fighting games, including Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Dragonball Z: Infinite World and Dragon Ball Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2. He is also in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 along with Sauza, with his base form, Transformation, and Meta-Cooler. He is in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 with the same transformations. Cooler also made an appearance as an alternate costume for Frieza in Dragon Ball Z 2 V, a special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 given out in a contest through the Japanese magazine V-Jump. Power In movie 5, it was shown he was evenly matched with Goku in his base form. However, when he transformed into his 5th form, he far outclassed Goku even when he went Kaio-ken x20 (which made him equal to Frieza at 50% of his power) and lost only when Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan who dominated him and blasted him into the sun. When he returned in movie 6, his new form enabled him to not only keep up with Goku in his Super Saiyan form but completely outmatch him. Even with the appearance of Super Saiyan Vegeta, he still retained the upper hand. It took all the energy of them both to eliminate only one Meta Cooler. All this being said, in his strongest form (Meta Cooler), he was probably equal to or possibly even stronger than Androids 17 or 18 as all of them could easily overpower an ordinary Super Saiyan. Special abilities * Bukujutsu - like almost all Dragon Ball Z characters, Cooler is able to fly through use of his ki. * Death Ball - a spark of ki that may grow to the size of a small moon. ** This was to be Cooler's trump card versus Goku, but his attack is blocked and he is subsequently pushed by the force of it and Goku's Kamehameha into the Sun. **The PlayStation 2 fighter Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 refers to Cooler's Death Ball as "Super Nova" to differentiate his variation from his brother's. * Henshin - an extra transformation Cooler learned to go beyond Frieza's. Originally, Cooler merely told Goku that he had one more transformation than Frieza * Kousengan (Destructive Beam) - a small thin beam shot from both eyes. * Chonoryoku (Telekinesis) - Cooler can lift or move large objects through the air with his mind. A Meta-Cooler uses this ability to drive Goku through a mountain on New Namek. * Shunkan-idō (Instant Transmission) - a unique ability to teleport nearly anywhere. In FUNimation's English version Meta-Cooler claims it to be "one of his favorite moves". Originally he was surprised Goku knew the technique. * Cooler, like his brother, Frieza is able to survive even the most horrific injury, even having his head decapitated, he can also survive in space. * Nano-regeneration - Any injury Meta-Cooler might suffer is instantly detected and repaired, and whatever flaws in his design that allowed the injury are corrected. Trivia *Cooler's final form bears a striking resemblance to The Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. *Cooler is said to be more powerful than his brother, and that is thoroughly possible. Interestingly, in the dub he claims that Frieza "always had the edge" until Cooler discovered his fifth transformation. Evidence for this is that he was roughly equal with Goku in his fourth form, whereas fourth-form Frieza could completely dominate base form Goku. However, a power level comparison has shown that he is stronger then Frieza and that his fourth transformation more then triples his power, thus, if he would have actually faced Goku at the level he was at against Frieza as a Super Saiyan in his fourth form, he would have easily dominated him (and Frieza at the same time). *Cooler only mentions his father King Cold once, when in the English dub he exclaimed "father always spoiled you, rotten little brat", in which he was showing his dislike for his brother. He seems to have no idea that a year or so prior to his arrival on Earth, King Cold and Frieza had actually been killed by Future Trunks not Goku. Of course, it is possible that this movie may have taken place in Future Trunks' time line, but that is very unlikely. It is likely that Cooler didn't know about Future Trunks killing King Cold and Frieza. *Cooler and Garlic Jr. are the only movie villains who appear in the anime since Garlic Jr. had his own saga and Cooler made a cameo out of Hell in Dragonball GT. *Meta-Cooler's expressions and design are comparable to Cell's last transformation. *In the Return of Cooler, it's revealed that Cooler knows Shunkan-idō (Instant Transmission), having learned it sometime before his attack on Earth. (He uses the technique to escape the Earth's sun, but is reduced to a disembodied head.) This means that he could sense ki, unlike his brother or father, as Shunkan-Idō teleports by homing in on a Ki signature. He may also be able to suppress his large ki-signature, since none of the Z Fighters where alerted to his presence. (Both his brother and father were detected by the Z Fighters, even before their ship reached Earth's orbit.) His being able to sense ki is supported by his not wearing a Scouter (Though he may not have been able to wear one anyways, like Guldo because he doesn't have any hinges/bumps near his eyes in the case of Guldo, his having four eyes hinders wearing a scouter.), and it may also explain how he was able to appear whenever his henchmen were in over their heads as well as being able to remain hidden the entire time from Piccolo and able to launch a surprise attack on him. (For instance, in their encounter with [[Piccolo] during the events of Cooler's Revenge.) *Interestingly, even though Cooler's head in Return of Cooler was that of his 4th form, his voice is that of his final form. *Cooler is also one of the few Dragon Ball Z movie villains to not actually be finished off by Goku. Notable others are Garlic Jr., Bojack, and Bio-Broly (if one counts Gogeta as an entirely different character, then Janemba also counts as well, and if one says that Goku wasn't actually present in Second Coming, then Broly as well). In fact, he is also the only main movie villain that was finished off by Vegeta. (While Goku did disembody Cooler, he was actually finished off by Vegeta because, by destroying the Gete Chip, he also killed Cooler.) *He is the second most recurring movie main villain only behind Broly. *He has one more form than his brother (or at least as it is seen), that being his 5th. He is only seen in his 4th, 5th, and metal forms. Voice actors * Japanese Dub: Ryusei Nakao * FUNimation Dub: Andrew Chandler Category:Changelings Category:Characters Category:Characters who can fly Category:Villains